Thursday, March 28, 2013

African Daisies for Easter

Hello everyone,  Happy Easter Weekend!

I have a couple of cards today featuring stamps from Designs by Ryn.

This first card features Ryn's African Daisy, Seaweed set & Sea Bubbles.     I must have 'Spring Fever' with these sunny colours.    We are still waiting for our snow to melt, but it is getting milder, I can't wait to get into the gardens again.




The background is a piece of watercolour paper that I used as a 'mop up' sheet of green & blue from other projects.

I used both stamps from the Seaweed set - the outline and solid design to create the 'foilage' with Pine Needles Distress Ink.  I used a white Gellyroll pen to colour inside the outline branches. I stamped the small Sea Bubble along the edge with black Versafine Ink and again highlighted with the white Gellyroll pen.  I embossed the Daisies with black and coloured with my Tombow markers.


The sentiment is from Chocolate Baroque's Words of Gratitude set.

And below is a second design using the same African Daisy stamp.   The actual card is much more vibrant, the photograph is dark unfortunately and I tried many ways to get it to come out properly.   


I started with Dylusions Inks in the background (red & purple).    I used Dylusions Luscious Leaves stencil with Viva Decor Bronze Modelling Creme.  I love the texture & shine you get using this creme.  It dries quickly, you need to clean your stencil immediately with water after using. 

I used Seedless Preserves Distress Ink to stamp the Leafy Branch  and blended more around the edges of the background.  The African Daisies were embossed with gold,  I used Mica Colour paints to colour & added Copper stickles to the centres.    All stamps are available one line at Designs by Ryn's webstore.

The African Daisy is also available at Crop Circles. 

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the weekend!
Shirley

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Floral Damask & colouring

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great week.

I've been inspired by the colouring of backgrounds by my talented team mates at the Chocolate Baroque Design Team using the new Big Bold Background stamps.    I also wanted to try Miranda's technique of stamping with white ink and then colouring over top with Pencils.   

 


I stamped the Floral Damask Background with Brilliance Moonlight White onto a sheet of Basic Grey paper that has a slight variance in the colour.   I decided to colour/highlight the centre portion of the Floral Damask design with my Prisma Pencils and left the rest to 'fade' out. 

Once I started to colour the detailed design of this beautiful image I fell in love with it a little more!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley 

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Leafy Trails with a Rose

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great weekend.    I would like to welcome a couple of new followers!  Thank you to all of my followers & visitors for making blogging so enjoyable!

I have a card today using one of Chocolate Baroque's new Big Bold Backgrounds -  Leafy Trails.   I've combined it with the single Rose from the Rose & Thistle set.



I stamped & embossed all the images with Gold and painted with my mica water colour paints.   Before I painted,  I blended Tattered Rose Distress Ink around the background.    The ribbon is hand painted silk which is a richer colour than the photo shows. 


Thanks for stopping by & have a great day !
Shirley

Friday, March 22, 2013

Butterfly Daisy Collage

Happy Spring everyone !    The calendar says "Spring" but I see tons of snow!  However the days are getting longer, the sun is higher in the sky, so it is coming. 

This card was definitely created while thinking about warmer temperatures, flowers blooming and butterflies hanging out in our gardens.  I think it will work as a Mother's Day card.    The background is more yellow that this photo shows.





I used a sheet of designer paper that's been hanging out in my stash for the background.  (6x6 Basic Grey).  I used the Butterfly Daisy Collage set from Chocolate Baroque to create this design which is on special for TWO weeks starting today.  'With Love' is from the Loving Sentiments set.

I ordered the pretty Spellbinder -Labels Eight, Decorative Elements dies after seeing beautiful designs using it at Donna's Blog.   It certainly makes the 'standard' Label Eight die decorative.  I coloured the images with Prisma Pencils and decoupaged the butterfly & a few daisies.

Here is a look at the stamp set, there are so many possibilities with these beautiful designs.   It's 'sister set' Butterfly Poppy Collage is also on special.

Thanks for your visit and have a great day!
Shirley

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Leafy Sea Dragon

Hello everyone,  I hope you are doing well.

Our snow was melting but we still have piles in areas where it drifted during the storms in February.   The shrubs that I like to prune in late winter are still buried and last night we 'enjoyed' another snow storm, more snow.   It's freezing rain this morning and the roads are a mess.   "Spring where are you? - the calendar says you should be here soon!"   

Well let's forget about snow..... have you ever seen a Leafy Sea Dragon?    I hadn't until I saw him amongst Design by Ryn's Sea Creatures collection and thought he was the coolest design.   I had fun creating another 'sea' for him to hang out in.  


 
Starting with a piece of water colour paper, I added watercolour paints wet on wet (just a inexpensive set - blue, green, purple, yellow and a little black).   While it was still wet I added sea salt in areas where I wanted create a 'bubble effect'.     Once dry and the salt brushed off, I sprayed yellow & gold Glimmermist.     Still not satisfied I sprayed a little turquoise Dylusions here & there and blotted off.

Once dry again I blended Peacock Feathers Distress Ink around the parameter and stamped Ryn's Sea Bubbles with the same ink.   I stamped one of Ryn's Seaweed Set stamps & blended Black Soot Distress Ink around the edge.  I stamped  Leafy Sea Dragon  with black Stazon, then coloured him with Tombow markers.  I used a Gellyroll pen for highlighting along with some glitter.

Hello... is by Impression Obsession - A3579.



Ryn recently added another new member to the Design Team!    We are pleased to welcome  Karin at Creativity to our growing group!  If you get a chance to visit Ryn's Design Teams Blogs, they are listed on my right sidebar.  

Thanks for your visit and have a great day!
Shirley

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Floral Damask with a Bold Bloom

Hello everyone,  I hope you are doing well.

I have a couple cards with Chocolate Baroque designs.   I've used one of the new Big Bold (& Beautiful) Backgrounds,  Floral Damask on both.    I've combined the first one with a flower from the Bold Blooms set.


I used peacock coloured designer paper for the background, stamped the Floral Damask background with Versamark, embossed with clear and blended Gathered Twigs Distress Ink over top.    It's a different effect as the image is not 'sharp'.

I embossed the Flower & Leaves from Bold Blooms & Fresh Blooms with a metallic mix EP (gold, silver & bronze) twice, coloured with Distress Inks and added some glitter to the decoupaged center.

I decided to not add too much to the background of this second card below.


I used a gold embossing power that has a bit of glitter chunks in it.   As you can see, the image is sharper this time.  I blended Distress Inks (Peacock & Raspberry) over and then added the sentiment from Birthday Words with Spellbinder label behind (S4-235).

If you get a chance to visit Chocolate Baroque's DT Blog my talented teammates are posting beautiful creations using the new stamps.  

Thanks for stopping by & have a great day,
Shirley

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Seahorse Friends

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great week.

I have a card today created for Designs by Ryn.    I used Ryn's cool Seahorse Set in a clean & simple design.




I masked off an area with scrap cardstock and blended Peacock Feathers & Mowed Lawn Distress Inks.  Using the mini Circle Explosion Stencil from TCW I added the dots with Picked Raspberry & Peacock Feathers DI.

The Seahorse (all three are in the set) were stamped on watercolour paper with black Stazon Ink & coloured with my Tombow markers.   I added a little glitter as well.   The sentiment is by Impression Obsession  B13027.

If you get a chance please stop by my teammate's - Miranda's, Eileen's & our new member Wendy's Blogs and Ryn's Facebook page for inspiration :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

Monday, March 11, 2013

Party Lady

Hello Everyone, I hope you are doing well.  

I worked on another Art Journal Page recently that I thought I would share.   It  ended up with a lot of molding paste for texture and probably should have been on a canvas board.   I didn't have a plan before starting and because of all the texture I didn't stamp any words.  




I used Gesso, Acrylic paints, Acrylic Glaze, Joint Tape, Molding Paste & stencils, Rhinestones for her necklace and some glitter here & there.   I started with some Designer Paper adhered with Mod Podge but you can't see it in the photo.   Oh yes there is a little lace as well !   Her face & hair were coloured/painted with Neocolor Crayons (water based).  When I bought these I went with the 30 set, now wish I had more colours.    

Thanks for your visit and have a great day !
Shirley

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Periwinkle Corners

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great weekend.

We are still looking out our windows at piles of snow, but the sun is shining and they are starting to melt.   I have a card today using one of Chocolate Baroque's  new clear stamp sets,  Periwinkle Corners & Rosebud, which includes 3 pretty & delicate designs.  


I stamped the Perwinkle Corner onto Kraft paper and coloured with my Prisma Pencils.  I used a Nellie's Muliframe die cut oval and blended a little Crushed Olive and Black Soot Distress Ink around the outside.   I used a stamp from Textured Fragments around the first background.   I stamped the Periwinkle again around the 2nd background on Kraft Paper with black & blended Crushed Olive DI again.

Here is a look at the Periwinkle & Rose Bud mini stamp set.




If you would like to see more designs using the new stamps by my talented team mates, please visit Chocolate Baroque's Design Team Blog.

Thanks for your visit and have a great day !
Shirley

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Pretty Poppies & a Celebration

Hello everyone !

I'm joining a celebration at Brenda's Blog - Floral Fantasies.   She is celebrating her fourth blogaversary and is fast approaching 4,000 followers... amazing !   Her celebration is a competition with prizes.  To me this is fun, never mind prizes, I'm looking forward to seeing her hit 4,000!  Brenda creates gorgeous cards, participates on numerous Design Teams and her blog is definitely a great place for inspiration.  

The challenge criteria is to create something based on inspiration from her blog.   I'm quite sure that Brenda likes flowers (thus her title "Floral Fantasies"), she uses lots of pretty flowers in her designs, and she has Poppies on her Blog Title, so I decided to do something with Poppies.   

I used Chocolate Baroque's Pretty Poppies set for most of the images.  Unfortunately this is one of those designs that just will not photograph properly grrrrrrrrrr, it's not as dark around the edges as this shows.....
.


I started by embossing the Poppy image on water colour paper using a Metallic mix powder.   Next I sprayed Dylusion inks, blotted off with another sheet of paper (set aside for another project).   I bleached the colour away from the image and painted with my Tombow markers.  It ends up with a slight Batik painting look.   

I stamped one of Chocolate Baroque's new clear edge stamps from Decorative Edges at the top with Mowed Grass DI and blended Peacock Feathers DI with TCW Harlequin stencil around the bottom half.   I added a little butterfly from a Cheery Lyn Die as a little finishing touch.   

Thanks for stopping by & have a great day,
Shirley 

Tuesday, March 05, 2013

Let the Adventure Begin

Hello everyone, I hope that your week is going well.   It's a beautiful sunny day today, makes us feel like Spring will come.  We just need the 3 feet of snow to melt!

I'm inspired by many bloggers who use Doodles in their card & journal art but when Rosie posted aother beautiful design & link to a tutorial recently I got my Art Journal out to Doodle.    Doodle drawing is not new to me, it's something that I've enjoyed as far back as I can remember.    





I started with Dylusions Inks, yellow, lime, green, peacock & purple along the page.  I misted water over top and blotted with a paper roll.      Next I used Acrylic paints with templates & also used the 'ghost technqiue' with the circles (spray water over template and blot to remove ink). 

I drew doodles with both black pigment and white GellyRoll pens & added liquid pearls.    The flower is a template which I first used black Acrylic paint and then drew around the petals.  I doodled in the stem & leaves.

Stamps:  Designs by Ryn's Leafy Branch and Chocolate Baroque's Artistic Affirmations.  

Mini TCW Stencils:   Circle Explosion, Luscious Leaves, Splats, Zinnia

Thanks for your visit and have a great day!
Shirley

Sunday, March 03, 2013

Wild Rose with Leafy Trails

Hello Everyone, I hope you are having a great weekend.   

Chocolate Baroque has just launched an exciting new line of Rubber Stamps...Big & Bold Backgrounds!   I love background stamps, so I was thrilled to see these beautiful designs to 'work' with.    They are March's stamp of the month, so there are some terrific deals, especially on the multi-buys.

If you are thinking about buying gorgeous stamps from Chocolate Baroque but have been unsure about ordering on-line from the UK, I can tell you from personal experience they provide excellent service to Canada.     The communication & fast delivery along with the excellent value is very impressive.

For this design I chose to work with one of the new clear stamps, Wild Rose Sprig along with the beautiful Leafy Trails Background.


I stamped the Leafy Trails onto designer paper.   I coloured both the Wild Rose Sprig and the Leafy Trails with my Prisma pencils.     I matted with Spellbinder die cuts, added ribbon & a leaf charm hanging out in my stash that just happened to be the same shape.

You can have a lot of fun with these beautiful background stamps, the creative possibilities are endless.   If you have a chance, please visit Chocolate Baroque's Design Team Blog  as my talented teammates will be posting beautiful creations using the new stamps.  

Here is a look at all six new large background designs which are sold individually or with multibuy specials. 

Thanks for your visit & have a great day,
Shirley